Many older people feel years younger than they really are. (Chris Maynard for The New York Times)Seventy is the new 57.
Older people feel, on average, about 13 years younger than they really are, according to a new study of aging from the University of Michigan and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.
Researchers surveyed 516 people between the ages of 70 and 104 who were taking part in the ongoing Berlin Aging Study in Germany, asking a series of aging-related questions, including how old they typically feel compared to the age on their birth certificate. Although individual responses varied, the average gap between chronological age and subjective age was 13 years. Among study participants who were particularly healthy and active, the gap between subjective age and actual age was even wider.
Researchers say the data are important because cultural expectations of people during their older years often are at odds with how seniors perceive themselves.
“We are somehow aged by the culture we live in,’’ said Jacqui Smith, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. “It’s about how we should look, when you should retire – sometimes those stereotypes are a little out of date.’’
As children, we typically feel slightly older than we really are, in part because children long to take part in activities reserved for older teens and adults. But around age 25 to 30, our views of aging fall out of sync with our chronological age, and we begin to think of ourselves as younger than we really are, Dr. Smith said. Other studies have shown that people between the ages of 40 and 70 feel about 20 percent younger than they really are.
But the latest research focused on people generally in the last three decades of life. The aim was to gauge whether the aches and pains of getting older force us to face reality, causing our subjective age to finally catch up with our chronological age. The study showed that even the very old typically feel far younger than they really are.
“This concept of how you feel about your age is so important and defines, in a way, how we act,” Dr. Smith said. “If you self-define yourself as someone who is old, then you probably act that way.’’
Although we typically think of ourselves as younger than we really are, the study found that most people are not in denial about the aging process. During the course of the six-year study, people were asked about their perceptions of age three times. The subjective age wasn’t frozen in time, and instead aged with the years. Although the gap typically remained the same, the difference between chronological age and perceived age did begin to narrow as people became less healthy and drew closer to death.
“It’s good for us to think we’re a little better than we actually are,’’ Dr. Smith said. “It’s associated with feelings of hope and well-being.’’
The findings are to be published in the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Science.
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From 1 to 25 of 69 Comments
Wow!! I thought I was nuts for being 44 but feeling like I was in my early 30’s. Now I know I’m not alone with my crazy thoughts!! It’s comforting…
— SamSpeaking as one with the gift of unbelievably good health, there’s really only one bad thing about getting older: the older I get, the faster time passes.
I know how old I am, and I’m not delusional about it, but time rushes by me in a way that leaves me feeling exactly as I did a long time ago…. but with fewer hang-ups and insecurities.
This is perfectly fine, but I want time to SLOW DOWN, so I can savor everything more and better than before. Maybe it’s actually a good thing that I need to focus on finding ways to savor…..
Many people have ridiculous ideas about the glory and the superiority of youth. Doesn’t matter to me, except when they try to limit my opportunities to do what I want to do….in the fast and faster moving decades ahead of me. I’m counting on, and hoping for, the sheer numbers of baby boomers, to compensate somewhat for this effect.
— WesleyDenial, pure and simple. Thank goodness.
If older adults actually stopped to think about how little time they have left to do many of the things they did as young adults, and how close they are to dying, they’d be psychologically paralyzed.
— jackVery interesting. Does “young-old” help people live longer than they likely would in the past?
— L.If you are lucky enough not to have money worries and are in relatively good health and moderate in your expectations as to what you can accomplish , 80
can be as enjoyable as 40.
Assume that you can do anything that you want to within your present abilities.
You might not choose to drive an 80 year old car, but if it has been maintained well and parts replaced when needed, it
— sheila sterncan be pretty glamorous. Everyone stops to look at well maintained antiques.
So: does the old adage “you are as old as you feel” really hold true? Some days I feel the 65 that I really am and some days I can feel like 50. Yet again, some days I feel like I was hit by a truck and feel 75. Is it in my perspectives of the day? Whoa!
— NurseTerryHere’s wishing everyone a youthful, happy, healthy and young holiday season!
http://www.caringisnotenough.net
Then again, maybe it is “you are as young as you feel…”
— NurseTerryhttp://www.caringisnotenough.net
Wesley is spot on. Time goes so fast. At 66 I feel as though I am on a speeding train. Happy holidayss everyone. It’s good to be alive and have a dog and two cats….
— fuctupfredGL
Wow, thanks for the picture! Now I won’t be able to eat lunch and I do need to loses weight. Do old people ever DO anything, or just dance like idiots or play insufferable card games? Mother Teresa says the poorest thing about being poor is the uselessness. Right. One night I woke in a dream, still dreaming, in horror that I was fifty. My life was over. It is finished. Then I woke from the dream. I was really 71. So many things not to do any more. If I stand barefoot on the wooden deck of the houseboat I’ve lived on for 20 years, a 20-year-old is sure to come along and talk baby-talk to me about how I shouldn’t stand there without my SHOES ON! I might get slivers in my FEEET. I shouldn’t be walking around alone, do I need help. From people who just stand there when I fall. How old is that? Your image is appalling! I deserve it, but golly gee whizz.
— J.T. ChristopherThough I am fast approaching age 80, I feel like a 21 year old kid trapped in a 80 year body. Now, if only my body felt the same way, life would be heaven on earth!
— gene BudayDying is inevitable, and not worth a second of one’s life thinking about. It’s living, that is the real challenge facing each of us each day. The old adage “each new day is the first day of our lives”, becomes more evident with each new breath we take. Live each day as if it were your last, because one day it will.
— gene BudayWell, maybe I start hitting the clubs, again.
— MeanderThis is interesting. At age 45 I started counting backwards, thinking I was at the half way point. I’m now 27, had triple bypass surgery & carry 25 extra pounds….but feel quite good and have alot of energy….like I’ve always had. This age deal is turning out to be the biggest myth of all. I like the old adage: “Attitude determines our altitude”.
— E Paul LianSatchel Paige once asked: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”
— DanI am 85. I prefer to say I have orbited the sun 85 times instead of saying I am 85 years “old”. I do not feel 85; I don’t know how one is supposed to feel. Physically there are some things I either can’t do or have difficulty doing them; mentally I feel as sharp as ever; I keep my brain exercised by continuing to learn. Not a plug, but there is a company called “The Teaching Company” that sells college level courses on DVD, audio or download audio. Examples of topics; math, (number theory, calculus, chaos), science (astronomy, biology, geology),history, economics, literature, They periodically have sales. I would say I have probably completed at least 2 years of a general liberal arts education (even though I have a Ph.D. in biology). No tests. It is much nicer to sit and eat breakfast watching one of their 30 minute lectures than listening or watching TV. So yes, I think you are as young as you feel. And a pet peeve especially referring to the medical profession. When one is in the class called “elderly”, often one is treated as though they are a child and don’t know anything, can’t make decisions, etc. I am sure some of you reading this have had that experience.
— Dorothy McKayI’m so lucky to share a locker room (at my community center-gym) with amazing women in their eighties plus, who have become my role models. I want to grow up to be them.
Helen turned 87 2 weeks ago & she exercises almost 7 days a week; swimming, Zumba, tai chi, & aerobics. She even showed up at the gym the day after her birthday, in spite of about 8 inches of snow. She drives, plays bridge, dances, attends religious services, keeps up with politics & laughs a lot.
She’s just one example of many!
Many of these women are cancer survivors. They have all kinds of assorted ailments & injuries, (at a certain point everyone gets something) but they still show up every day for the exercise & camaraderie.
They tell me that some days they just don’t feel like getting out–or they don’t feel well–but then they push themselves, & they’re glad they did.
Hard to tell which is the bigger draw–the exercise, or the locker room shmoozing.
My 94 year old aunt tells me that it’s always a shock to see her reflection in the mirror. She confided once, “Who is this old lady? I still feel 36 years old inside.”
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com
— The Healthy LibrarianHaving a 20-something helping spend your SS and a mother needing constant care can put some age on ya. If life were just the person versus the years, it would be another thing.
— StarSheila Stern #5, you’re right: Everyone stops to look at well maintained antiques.
I’m 75, unmedicated, unBotoxed, unhairdyed, and I have no illusions about my appearance. But it’s my being very vintage that brings flattering comments and male attention on a daily basis. There’s just something daring about a gorgeous necklace worn with elan on a Shar-Pei neck.
I am chronologically old and creatively young, so there.
— marly harrisIf someone asked me how old I felt, I would just give him a quizzical look. Age is something I am, not something I feel. I feel healthy, my mind is sharp, and I have things to live for. This does not make me “feel young”.
— Omariwell Star I took care of my Mom for many years and it’s no walk in the park,but she had me and I don’t have me.Now I’m 64 ,looking forward to Medicare.The old bod hurts all the time, when I stop and listen to it ,I don’t want to be young or act young {old fools] I think almost anyone of a certain age is aware of time and it’s OK , time will bring peace.
— lindaThis is an interesting coincidence. I was celebrating my daughter’ s 40th with her last week and commented that I actually really feel about 52 (I am 67) and she said she feels in her early 30s. We are average!
— BeaMy dear dad passed away in May of this year at age 86 and his outlook on life was very positive until his last breath. He believed that family came first and we were pleased at the many photographs that we shared which showed him in the middle of many of our gatherings and always hugging and smiling with his twenty-six grandchildren and nine children.
His legacy was simple; be honest and love your family and friends with all of your soul. Everything else will work itself out in due course. He used to advise me to never, never ever lose my family. That was the anchor to his long life and health.
He is missed but never forgotten .
Baltazar Arispe y Acevedo
— Baltazar AcevedoI’m smiling right now, wondering how the 30- and 20- somethings are processing some of these comments.
They figure THEY won’t become “well maintained antiques,” or wake up in the morning feeling like a truck hit them, or be admonished as if they are children while standing barefoot on the deck of a houseboat.
They think, like many did, that maybe they’d rather “die young and be a beautiful corpse” (remember that one, anyone?).
Live and learn, my pretties……
— WesleyI am 50+ former actress and, of course dismayed about losing my looks. However, in the past year, I have been “propositioned” by several younger men. I attribute my youthful vigor to red wine, ballet classes, and good genes.
— La VampThat is nothing, though. My 82-year-old mother-in-law has had both knees replaced, has a nightclub act, a younger boyfriend and strides around in 4-inch stiletto heels.
it ain’t over ’till it’s over!
i’m 66. drive a porsche; run 3 miles about 5 times weekly. i wear the same style clothing i’ve worn for years-lots of denim, ralph lauren. my libido is quite active. women have not lost interest.
what i wonder is: do people see me as trying to act younger than i am? do i look silly?
who knows? but i must admit-i do care.
— scnorer